1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of self-propelled land dirigibles such as bicycles and skateboards. More particularly, this invention pertains to a novel combination of a bicycle and a skateboard operable by one person to perform numerous tricks and maneuvers not possible with either vehicle alone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bicycles have been known for many years and come in a wide variety of wheel diameters, heights, wheel ratios, and lengths such that they are used for exploration, transportation, sports races, and performing entertaining tricks and maneuvers the world over. As is well-known in the use of bicycles, the operator sits upon a seat in the upper portion of the bicycle with both feet off the ground and propels the vehicle by shifting his or her body weight alternatively from foot-to-foot onto a pair of rotatable pedals that are connected by cranks to one of a pair of large, spaced-apart, air-inflated, support wheels by a drive chain or the like. Modern bicycles are equipped with a front and a rear wheel of similar size that are pivotally mounted on cross axles mounted to forks fixed or journaled to the bicycle frame.
Skateboards, on the other hand, have not been known for as many years but currently are quite popular. They are generally long, narrow and usually flat footboards supported by front and rear pairs of small diameter wheel diameters solid rubber wheels to support a rider in standing position quite close to the ground as compared to bicycles. Skateboards come in a rather narrow range of lengths, widths and heights with the wheels being of fairly similar diameters. The operator stands upright on one foot upon the footboard and propels the skateboard by pushing off with the other foot. While bicycles are capable of both short and long trips, skateboards are meant for rather short trips and are generally used to produce tricks in riding, skipping and jumping over obstacles, and leaping off high places or off of inclined surfaces to perform spinning, twisting, and tumbling tricks of spectacular proportion.
There appears to be a general movement to find novel vehicles for the performance of even more sensational tricks and maneuvers using these small vehicles, either in their existing form or in some modified form. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 1,514,720 discloses a bicycle having a platform located aft of the standard seat for pushing off with one foot and then moving forward to sit on the seat so that the bicycle can be put in motion like a scooter and then ridden like a bicycle. U.S. Pat. No. 1,951,277 discloses a standard scooter having a low center plate supported apart from the ends thereof by a pair of spaced-apart like diameter wheels where the steering is effected by an upright pair of handlebars rising from the front support wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,079 discloses a scooter-like device with split platforms that articulate with a steerable front support wheel-handlebar combination to provide a mechanically-propellable device. U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,647 discloses a skateboard having a sectional front end that is steerable by a pair of handle bars rising upward from the front small-diameter support wheels through an articulable connection joint. U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,121 discloses a pair of skateboard-like plates angling together at the front of each to an articulable support assembly rising upward to terminate at a pair of steering handles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,189 discloses a skateboard plate supported by a trundle of small wheels and terminating at the front thereof by a large diameter wheel through a curved support bar terminating at a steerable joint through a pair of spaced-apart handle bars. And, U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,331 discloses a pair of spaced-apart plates on which a rider stands that are supported by a steerable front support wheel through a set of spaced-apart handlebars that terminate above a moveable support column joining the front wheel to the handlebars.
Continued efforts are being made to find vehicles capable of many different tricks and maneuvers. Each modification that is developed appears to supply the industry with a new and exciting product for development into spectacular tricks that heretofore have not been available to bicycle and skateboard enthusiasts.